The New Girl
by Cotto
Summary: This is a Fuffy love story (kind of weird from me, but it's a good one) that, because it's an academic enviorment, is also platonic. Based upon a challenge by a fellow who's penname is IrishAmerican67, this is argueably one of my more gentle stories. Please do the following: Read, Enjoy, and Review (or PM me, if you wish, but I prefer Reviews by members)... it's for everybody's joy
1. Buffy's New Classmate

**The New Girl**

_**By James Carmody.**_

**Disclaimer:** Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the entire franchise thereof is the property of Joss, and until he decides to sell or give it away, in whole or in part (by way of giving permission to sell stories therein), I will not accept a single red cent for this or any other Buffy stories that I write- this is fanfiction, and is written for fun.

**Summery:** Fuffy story set in College, Faith is a bit late (by a month) due to getting her GED, and Buffy helps her get up to speed in her studies.

**Characters/Pairings: **Faith/Buffy, Willow Rosenberg, the First Evil (possibly), Professor Bruce Hoffner (OMC)

**Author's Notes:** This story is inspired by IrishAmerican67's challenge to me; he wanted a Fuffy story- basically a STORY involving them in a relationship, and that developed into this in my head. I hope you like this idea, IrishAmerican67! This is a Faith/Buffy love story. Please do the following: Read, Enjoy, and Review (or PM me about it, but I'd prefer both).

**Chapter 1.): Buffy's New Classmate…**

**Chapter Author's Notes [Beginning]:** Willow has serious issues with Faith, (serious issues is an understatement; she absolutely hates her!) as you'll learn later on in this chapter, so if she can be gentle enough with her to wish her a good education and a happy time, she is really doing a 'bang-up job' as the saying goes.

Buffy Summers was seated in the UC Sunnydale math class, waiting for the professor to arrive in the room and begin the lesson. Just about two minutes before Professor Bruce Hoffner should have arrived; she spotted a young brunette she thought she remembered from her High School days walking into the classroom. Said brunette wore leather pants and a leather jacket (both were black), and had a pretty backpack on, small, but not too petite. _"She looks beautiful"_ Buffy thought to herself _"don't I remember her from somewhere?"_ she thought some more, then _"Faith?! No, it can't be!"_ she thought, it bugged her that she couldn't remember who this young lady is/was. It _really_ bugged Buffy that she couldn't recall this woman's identity for sure, but she _looked_ surprisingly like Faith Lehane.

This mysterious young female student had her black hair in a bun, but it looked like a perm too (What Faith has is her hair in a bun and her hair has been put in a perm, so it's both.)- so it looked a bit weird, but pretty. Hey, this female was gorgeous in her eyes. [Make out with her.] suggested an errant desire in her head [she wants it.] _"Yeah, Right!"_ Buffy responded sarcastically, in her head. Before continuing her hammering of this perverse desire _"Just because a female is pretty doesn't mean by definition that she wants to be kissed."_ Buffy was kind of mad at this message, and the messenger- though she didn't know for certain who this messenger was; in reality it was the First Evil, a being known in religious history as the Devil. That explained why she got a 'email' that if she had followed the instructions therein; Buffy Anne Summers would have been risking expulsion from school for pretty much sexually attacking Faith Lehane! And if she followed that 'paper trial', she would realize that the entity wanted to get her to waste her mind; it really was a 'first-rate' mind. , and that would devastate many more than Buffy (and probably Faith- who that new student was), it would also hurt Dawn (who loves Buffy deeply), and Professor Hoffner- who feels with his very fibers that she's a spectacular student, and that just scratches the surface of those who'd be hurt. Buffy would likely wind up in prison too. Hence the First Evil was out to hurt as many people as possible.

This class day was in early October, so the air was getting rather brisk, especially for Southern California… but the room was heated. Buffy was wearing her black leather jacket, but more because she liked to be able to fight if need be than for keeping warm. Faith glanced right at Buffy, and it was clear that the blonde had caught her eyes, so Buffy smiled sweetly at Faith. She genuinely felt a growing love for the brunette, but she wanted to control her desires towards the gorgeous brunette. When these two women had met, they had a nearly sisterly bond; but Faith's antics had ruined their relationship. Buffy was determined to give Faith another chance to be her friend and practically sister. However, she wasn't ready to go any further than 'sister/friend' with Faith. She loved her, and wanted to give her a seat of honor amongst her friends, but they kept on fighting., Buffy was, however, a Christian woman- as it turned out, so was Faith, so she absolutely wanted to 'turn the other cheek' as the saying went. But there were hard feelings to get past in her heart.

As the class went on, Buffy kept on glancing at Faith- concerned about her new classmate, so, after class, she waited for a while until almost all the rest of the class aside from herself and Faith had cleared out to talk to Professor Hoffner about her idea.

Looking up from his desk, Professor Hoffner saw Buffy standing there with her hands in her lap, and her blonde hair in a wreath-braid around her head, she looked beautiful in the sunlight. And he asked "What is it, Buffy?" to her. "Professor Hoffner" Buffy began "I have to ask you what your policy on students helping other students is." "It's just that they cannot allow themselves to fall behind in their work, Miss Summers, what is this about?" he tried to find out more from her regarding what she is talking about "I just noticed that Faith has just began, and wonder if I might help her to get up to speed with her studies, if that is OK with you" she asked him, meekly. "That's" his eyebrows went up to the middle of his forehead "a wonderful idea, Buffy… I do want my students to have a 'teamwork mentality' too, the only objection I have is what if _you_ fall behind yourself." was him voicing his position on it- he loved the idea of his students helping eachother, and Buffy understood math quite well.

"Then I'll just have to keep that under control." Buffy responded, she was elated that she could help Faith; even though she felt she had no choice about nearly killing Faith, it was in a fight that she felt that Faith had left her no choice in- she was angry at her sister-slayer for poisoning her boyfriend, Angel; and she was GOING to make Faith pay! _"So like Cain and Abel." _Buffy thought bitterly _"Darn glad I side-stepped killing her by the skin of my teeth, though."_ she still felt bitter about that.

"You have my full permission to do so, and you'll get extra credit for helping her, too." The professor was saying to her, and the fact that she was so lost in her memories meant that she nearly missed his authorization to help her fellow student out!

Willow Rosenberg had been seated at the back of the room, and was perpetually nervous with the idea that Faith was now her classmate- these two females had almost never gotten along, and Willow was scared of Faith. But hearing that Buffy had offered to help Faith study made Willow see Buffy's soul in a new light- and what a **beautiful** soul she had! Willow was frankly amazed at how gorgeous Buffy's personality had become; and felt a genuine teammate love for the blonde woman who was her best friend!

After class she cornered Buffy in the hallway, and seizing her by her upper arms, she told her in no uncertain terms that she was most proud of her for volunteering to help Faith with her studies, that she found Buffy to have a beautiful personality. This alarmed Buffy, she didn't even think of herself as bisexual, she still considered herself a straight woman.

A taller blonde woman walked up to Willow and said something near her ear, Buffy's hearing was spectacular- so she heard clearly what was being said "W-W-W-Willow" _"This woman seems nervous."_ Buffy read while the other blonde was talking to her best friend "she doesn't seem entirely comfortable right now, p-p-p-perhaps we should…" "That woman has a bad stutter." walking up behind Buffy was Faith, and her remark made Willow go ballistic- she wanted to punch Faith full in the face for speaking so bluntly about her friend, and what's more, girlfriend: Tara! "You want to bring it, Red? Come-on then, let's bring it!" Faith said, about to hit Willow hard. These two ladies had Never gotten along; and it looked for all the world like another fight was about to begin between them right then and there!

Buffy would have none of that! She immediately stepped right in-between her best friend and her sister-slayer and said in a voice that brooked no argument "Hey, if you want to hit someone, hit me, but be warned; I hit back!" she wouldn't have them fighting amongst eachother, as that would hurt her. She had her hands practically on both ladies chests, to hold them apart, and was willing to die that day in College to stop her friends from killing one-another. Buffy didn't want to die, not at all, but she was willing to do so, so that her friends could live- and come to their senses.

Buffy had, by some bizarre co-incidence, managed to embarrass her colleagues and friends into coming to their senses; Willow hung her head, and mumbled a quick prayer for forgiveness of her hatred of Faith that had come the fore, and Faith turned away- disgusted with herself for her activities; she so wanted to leave her bad past behind herself; her time in a cell, her counseling, her GED work, her classes in prison, all of these had the background of her penance for her violent past, in the younger brunette slayer's life,- and now to see it coming to the fore again was very upsetting for the younger slayer.

"Faith had no business bullying you." Willow said, resting her forehead on Tara's, as the two of them talked and tried to comfort eachother about that upsetting event. "No, she's right, I do stutter… mainly when I meet new people." Tara explained, her perspective was different from Willow's: whereas Willow's perspective was about Tara's rights (especially her right to emotional happiness), Tara's was about the accuracy of information that she and others receive about her and their situation. That was what was most important in Tara's eyes: honesty, flavored with charity.

"I'm sorry Faith's such a bit of a b*tch, Tar!" Willow said, bitterly. Tara was, however, rather offended by Willow calling Faith so hurtful a name, and said to her "I've asked you to stop using that term for a female dog to refer to a woman, before, Will… you know that. It offends me." These two were in Tara's room, standing in the middle, trying to talk out their issues. "What did she do to you that got you to hate her so?" Tara asked, probing angrily towards Willow's issues with Faith. Tara could clearly feel Willow's hatred of Faith, it was like hot concrete in her soul- blocking out any use of the fertile soil that made her personality so beautiful to Tara- "like a well-tended garden" was how Tara described Willow's personality- she absolutely loved to spend time with her, but when Will's like this; Tar can easily see the ugliness Will's prone to, and it frightens her immensely.

Some hours later, Willow and Tara had still not gotten to a resolution, and Willow suddenly let slip out that she wanted to rape Faith! Tara almost physically slapped Willow full-strength across her face then and there- she was so angry about that! "Hate-sex is absolutely _**disgusting**_ Willow! There's no love in it, no gentleness, no kindness, no respect, it's intended to hurt the other person… for crying out loud- why would you want to do something so Horrible?!" With each of the "there's no's" in her speech, Tara shook her head in anger. Victoria {Tara} was well beyond berserk now! The mere reference to Willow raping Faith set her over the edge with anger towards her girlfriend- and it wasn't that Will would be cheating on her, it was what Willow would be doing to Willow: making herself into a lesbian rapist! (basically a female rapist with lesbian tendencies) _That's_ what offended and scared Tara beyond all reason! Victoria was almost in tears, she was that upset by what Willow had mentioned, so she turned herself away from her girl; with the intent to hide her quiet crying.

"It's what she did to me and my friends; she tried to kill us, she raped my friend-slash-brother-of-the-heart: Xander, and she threatened me. _She also betrayed us- to a sorcerer by the name of Richard Wilkins III_" Willow finally said, and she said the "betrayed" part bitterly, as if she was still bitter about that, feeling petty for bringing herself into the equation- she wanted to be a 'soldier for righteousness', not a petty little girl who couldn't place others needs ahead of her own.

"So, you've got a series of legitimate grievances with her, but those don't justify you trying to rape her." Tara explained, now slightly embracing Willow to try to comfort her. "Even combined they don't come close to justification for rape, believe me, I know." Tara explained.

Willow went wide-eyed at Tara's emphatic response "What does, then?" Willow asked "What does it take to justify that deed?" "Willow" Tara responded, shocked that Will would want to do such a misdeed "there's never any justification for forcing oneself on someone else- NEVER! I ought to know." Tara said, then her voice dropped into a whisper "Some people I know were subjected to that horror, and they took almost all the time from then until now to recover, and the character of the violators never recovered!" Victoria {Tara} began her tirade. "When my father found out that I was a lesbian for the first time, he…" she paused "took it upon himself to make sure that I'd never be violated by another female; now, make no mistake, Willow, my dad doesn't approve of my orientation, but I am still his child- so he felt responsible for protecting me; and when he learned of my intellectual nature,,, well, he referred me to a book titled "Woman-to-Woman sexual violence… does she call it rape?" and told me that that book would help me to realize the dangers in my situation. Well, I read it, and it has been useful to me., it pointed out some of the things that women will do to eachother, and that has helped me to avoid being violated in my dates with females- when to draw the line… that sort of thing." Tara explained "So, when I heard you saying that you wanted to rape Faith; I got understandably scared for your future. I love you, Willow, and I don't want you to be worthy of prison." "Wow! That can happen? To us?" Willow was shocked. "As easily as with a guy, it turns out, and it is a lot harder to prosecute." Tara explained "But if you do this horror; I'll have to testify against you, and I DON'T want to do that! So, please, for my happiness, stop and re-think your intentions towards Faith!" Tara begged Willow to re-consider her intent to sexually abuse Faith.

Willow felt enormously guilty now… especially since she had wanted to sexually abuse and assault Faith at the same time- it truly frightened her what she had wanted to do to her! "Very well, Tara, I'll hold myself back, but I _don't_ love her, or even LIKE her!" Willow said, still bitter about Faith's even existence.

"Willow, it's your hatred of Faith that is ugly." Tara tried to reason with her girlfriend, she didn't want her to wind up re-incarnated into something very low- she wanted Willow to be a queen in her own life, and right, and in Tara's life too- and the love of her life; not some kind of ugly _parasite_!

What Tara really wanted for Willow was absolute self-mastery, as Catholics call the trait- though Tara's a modern Pagan, she liked the Judeo-Christian concept of being in charge of one's: life, choices, lifestyle, and all that... In short- she liked the idea of ruling over herself, not being a puppet of the First or any other true demon that comes along; and she wanted that same power for Willow.

Meanwhile; Buffy talked to Faith earlier than this argument about what Willow wanted to do to Faith, with Faith Lehane… she told her to meet her at her (Buffy's) room in Stephenson Hall on campus to study, and then they'd possibly play a game of Buffy's that she wanted to try out called Ace of Aces, made by a certain Alfred Leonardi. _"Faith will be so surprised"_ Buffy thought, _"nobody yet knows of my budding hobby as a wargamer."_ Buffy mentally added with a grin as she and Faith separated to go about their days "Oh, Faith, be careful around Willow." Buffy added, fearing that a fight would break out between those two.

**Previously (some months ago):**

Willow and Giles had met in a secret meeting; a meeting about Buffy. It was mentioned there by Willow that she felt that Buffy would get better at monster-fighting if she took up wargaming, and to her surprise: Giles had agreed. "Buffy's a superb hand-to-hand fighter" he had said "but to wage war requires a far more strategic-mind than Buffy has been able to develop- even with weapons, she is still superb- beyond that, in fact, but she isn't up to par in strategy or tactics, and I fear that in a major battle; she'll be put to flight or worse., you're right, Willow, I'll encourage her to take up wargaming very soon." he had agreed, and that surprised Willow greatly!

When Willow had broached the subject to Buffy, Buffy had been somewhat angry at her for deciding her life's course without her present or able to have any input, but Willow had persuaded her that it'd be fun to learn to wargame, and that would make a nice little hobby- she'd also mentioned the subject of passed slayers, including the rumor of Joan of Arc being one... And Buffy was interested, to say the least! That interest had made all the difference for her, and finally she'd consented.

**College-days:**

Buffy was deeply offended that Willow and Faith had almost fought, and the reality that they had almost come to blows- besides Willow's obvious hatred of Faith scared Buffy, she was scared **for** Faith! Scared of what Willow might do to her, and she was concerned _**both**_ her new friend: Faith, and her best friend: Willow… Buffy _**really**__ didn't_ want them to fight, or worse… she didn't know what Willow had told Tara in their room, but Willow was **very** angry and was clearly interested in hurting Faith in any way that she could! This, above all else, scared the blonde heroine.

**End Chapter Author's Notes:** Don't worry, while Alfred Leonardi's work is referenced, and to avoid plagiarism, is credited to him, he will not show up in this story- but his work is in it: the Ace of Aces book wargame. I've played it, and it is fun. Buffy in this story is bisexual, but predominantly straight, but that is merely her desires (and that seems to match her in the comics too), she is developing a fast love interest in Faith Lehane, and in the next chapter (which will be called "Study-date and Play-date", appropriately so) she and Faith will be playing a game of Ace of Aces, and her affection for Faith will begin to become something she has to worry about.

She'll still love Faith, and she should, but she will be appropriately frightened by her love of Faith. To anyone in school, currently or in recent personal history, you'll appreciate what I mean: you love your friend/classmate, but you don't want it to interfere with your studies- and that interference is exactly what the First will take advantage of if it can in Buffy's heart to try to ruin her education!


	2. Study-Date and Play-Date

**Chapter 2.): "Study Date and Play Date"**

**Author's Notes [Beginning Chapter]:** In honor of the Centennial of World War 1, and my personal taste in history, I've decided to include a nifty little touch: an interview with someone who is (supposedly) in the series, a fellow from the time periods that would remember the War to End All Wars, as it was called, and what he'd have thought when possibly fighting in it- a nifty little touch, if you really think about it.

Also: Buffy and Faith's love for each-other just might come into play here- in possibly weird and disturbing ways for them in school.

Make no mistake in this: this is also a Fuffy (Faith/Buffy) love-story!

Tara hadn't slept a wink that night, really. She had been crying silently all night long, and listening to Willow cry at the same volume of tears (silent sobbing), due to their fight the previous day. Every time she looked back at Willow's bed, as they were facing away from eachother, she saw her redheaded lover all curled up in a ball, shaking with tears- ironically, as far as Tara could discern, Willow wasn't crying about the fight so much as she was crying about wanting to rape Faith! Not that Willow should _**ever**_ want to rape someone, even someone so evil as Faith had been, but that she (Willow) could want to do something so profoundly disordered- that frightened the redheaded gay Jewess. That realization was a bit satisfying to Victoria, not that she wanted Willow to cry, but that Willow seemed so profoundly upset and sorry for wanting to do something so profoundly wicked to one of her neighbors! She couldn't have been more correct about Willow's reason for sobbing, it was indeed because Willow was frightened about wanting to sexually assault Faith- and what it'd do to Will!

Every time Tara looked at her girl, she saw Willow faced away from her, and what she couldn't see is that Willow was all wrapped up hugging herself and had her left fist in her mouth, as if she was in real pain; this happened pretty much throughout the night, so these women would need to be hyped up on caffeine to enable themselves to get through the school day in the next day. Because Tara couldn't sleep, she went over her plans for the next day, and mentally mumbled a quick prayer to whatever deity existed to help her to carry out the interview she had tried to schedule in regards to her geo-politics class by the name of "international relations", they were about at the stage in world history about warfare that covered the First World War- or what was Officially called "the first world war", because there were no fewer than five actual world wars, and that one was no earlier than number three of them!

Willow's tears, meanwhile, were due to her wanting to violate someone, and her fear of losing her soul to the darkness in her heart- the mere realization that she had such wickedness in her was profoundly terrifying to the redheaded gay Jewess- she honestly _didn't_ want to do something that would make her into a villainess, and that was what scared and hurt her so deeply. _"Committing Rape will do that, it'll make me into a villainess."_ Willow realized, and started to panic about what she had wanted to do.

Tara wanted to hold Willow so darn much that it actually hurt her that she couldn't comfort her in her tears, but she knew that she had to face what she had wanted to do to her neighbor- and this was _Willow's_ internal battle, all Victoria could hope to do is to render comfort to her friend.

Since both of them had been up for most of the night, at about five-o'clock, Tara discerned that she wasn't going to get any sleep that night, so she elected to check her e-mail messages, figuring she had something that could be interesting: at worst, there'd be nothing useful, but if things panned out, she would have a useful idea., hey, maybe one of her teachers had referred her to a new topic to research for her learning- Tara was a bit of a nerd, she _really_ wanted to learn, and develop her mind, and this meant _conquest_ of new topics, not use of _play_ like the 'flower-children' of the 1960s US history, with their rather profound screw-ups in behavior- _no thank you_; she wanted the real stuff! This meant study, and school- **not screwing around willy-nilly and doing whatever she darn well pleased**! No, Vicky wanted to _learn…_ Darn it!

Sure enough, when Tara logged on to the school website, and went to her email box in her private email, she had a message. She had finally gotten online at about 5:30am Pacific Time, and the sky was still dark, but she had found something interesting in her messages: a mysterious message by someone with the penname of "Buffylover607", didn't know who it was, but she elected to open said message to her, to find out what the statement was, it clearly indicated it had something to do with a statement she had made in the last Scooby Gang Meeting, and this 'fellow' indicated he might know something that could help her with her schoolwork. This next matter in the email confused her still more- the email went like this:

"Victoria Maclay,

Meet me at the bar nearest to the Sunnydale Campus, on the West side of town. ASAP. I have something to tell you regarding your classes you mentioned in the last Scooby Meeting.

Giles doesn't know what he was talking about as to why many English Soldiers fought in the Great War, but I'll tell you some of the reasons.

Come alone to the meeting. Don't worry, it'll have many people in the room, but I'm kind of shy about the friends being there, they won't know what to do with me.

Hoping to see you soon-

Buffylover607."

Tara was more than a little spooked here, she didn't trust this message, but on the other hand, nobody but the members of the Scooby Gang knew what she had said in that meeting. She had referred to her College Classes in Historical Geo-Politics, and why things worked out the way they did, for she was taking a class called "International Relations", that she sort-of liked, but it was a hard course for her, but the man (or woman) who had sent her this email was kind of creepy- she had half a mind to call the cops, show them the email, and just not go to the meeting without any law-enforcement officers there; just in case things got out of hand and the 'fellow' turned out to be a lustful pervert with more arousal than brains who just might see her as a candidate for the more brutal kind of mating (rape). _"Whoever it is __**claims**__ to love Buffy, though, and I __**probably**__ ought to attend, just to keep my friend safe- Elizabeth __is__ my friend… right?"_ Tara thought to herself… That cinched the deal- she'd go, but keep her guard up, and see what this creepy fellow had in mind- probably nothing, but if it actually _did_ pan out, she would profit, besides, the statement seemed genuinely in her best interest education-wise, and she liked that!

Next she wrote back to tell this "Buffylover607" that she accepted his meeting request, and got changed into her cloths for the day.

Tara elected to dress in her blue-jeans and a teal top, with, if not _sensible_, then _practical_ shoes. Usually she wore an ankle-length skirt, but this time she felt that she was obliged to investigate this creepy message- she memorized where she was to go, logged off her email account and the school computer network, and picked up her purse- thinking all the while that she had to do this to help keep her friends safe. This was exactly what she wanted to do (and wanted to do, too): help keep people safe from threats to themselves and others- possibly an influence of Elizabeth Summers, or so Victoria Maclay reasoned to herself as she wrote a note to Willow saying:

"Willow, love, I have to run an errand.

Don't worry, I haven't run out on you, it has to do with schoolwork (hopefully).

I'll meet with you when I can, take care.

Love you.

Tara."

And she punctuated it with a lipstick kiss, just to testify to her feelings for the redhead who had stolen her heart. Tara walked away, shutting the door. She then headed out of the campus, she didn't have classes until just about an hour before noon that day, anyways, so it'd be a neat time to meet this mysterious someone who had sent her this peculiar email.

Willow, meanwhile, still had her right fist in her mouth as if in severe agony, and was still crying over wanting to hurt someone in _that_ particular way. _"Honestly, you ought to know better, Willow, you were a victim of attempted rape in High School, by none other than your evil twin sister- the Vampiress who was your double! So, __**how **__**dare** __**you**__ desire to rape somebody else?!"_ the Jewess berated herself furiously for her hateful desire to sexually attack someone, anyone else. She was really disgusted with herself for desiring to sexually assault Faith. Faith! OF All people, she Hated her the most! Willow really didn't hate anybody else but Faith in her life at this point.

Willow was dimly aware of Tara leaving the room, but she was so upset with herself for last evening that she couldn't stop crying, and had largely retreated into herself in tears; due to her threat of sexually attacking Faith, and what it'd do to her own self.

Faith's day started with a wake-up stretch in bed, at roughly 8:15am, in her sleeveless t-shirt and pajama pants. She then lightly smacked her lips and walked to the restroom she was using to brush her teeth and get rid of the 'morning breath' that always hung around in her mouth. Today she had yet another math class, and she didn't want to be late. Today was a Friday, and she also had another class just after that one: HDEV FYE (or Human Development, First Year Experience), and she didn't want to be late. Of all things, Faith wanted to be catching up with her learning- she was frankly disgusted with her mental state- feeling far too far behind her classmates in learning. Oh, she had graduated GED already, but was feeling really depressed for being so far behind in her classes, and to be honest: more than a little envious of the Scooby Gang's bond with one-another (that they'd die for eachother in a heartbeat) - they had something good going on in-between them, and she wanted IN on it! Faith was a bit of a practical sleeper: all she really had to do was get her pajama pants off, her underpants and pants on or dress on and she'd be almost ready for her day- all those lessons with Diana Dormer and Gwendolyn Post had helped her out with practicality of readiness on the drop of a hat. Faith was rather pleased with this, and with her remaining fitness post hospitalization she had to endure for a coma of eight months. She had still come out of it strong enough to do just about anything., and she was rather proud of that fact.

She also tended to sleep late into the day, and spend her time out in parties, which was her way of hunting vampires and demons- as they tended to love the club scenes, and a gorgeous young lady is considered a tasty morsel for these creatures of the night, whereas Slayer blood is considered the 'crème-de-la-crème' in their society as far as tasty food goes, something about making a kill of something that can kill you- the rush of victory over an opponent who can destroy you is always more satisfying. Faith understood that fact _completely_! She reveled in the fights that brought real danger to herself… there was just something about a hunt wherein you could die that is eminently more satisfying by far!

Shortly thereafter, Faith had gathered up her class gear of a few schoolbooks, and folders for classes, and set them into her backpack, and after placing it on her back and over her shoulders; the Bostonian Brunette grabbed her room key and locked her room and set out to attend classes. Shortly before leaving Stephenson Hall she ran smack-dab into her classmate Buffy! As the taller girl took the spot to the right, she got a little twinkle in her eyes for a prank to play on her friend. The blonde had her hair in kind of a wreath-braid that Faith assumed was B's favorite hairstyle- she nearly always wore it that way these days.

These two young ladies had reached about one-eighth of the way to the school hall where the class would take place when Faith sprang her idea on B! She proceeded to suddenly grab Buffy at the knees with her right hand and placed her left hand behind Buffy's head; then with a sudden sweeping lift, she picked her up just as one would pick up a baby and proceeded to carry Buffy all the way to the school doors! (Nearly a mile) Elizabeth was well beyond shocked: her new friend was carrying her as she would a baby! The blonde burst out laughing at the idea of what's going on- and what a bizarre sight it was.

Faith proceeded to walk up the steps to the classroom hall with Buffy in her arms: her head was in Faith's left elbow, and her knees were over Faith's right arm. Faith however had to stop, and immediately Buffy knew she'd get her revenge for this bizarre situation- even though it was pretty fun being treated so lovingly by a girl who was previously a gorgeous psychopath; but Faith was growing up and developing out of her psychopathy, oh, Angel had helped her to cope with this, and despite Buffy's developed dislike for Faith (especially with Faith having messed around with Buffy's body and Elizabeth's {Buffy's} boyfriend when she was _**in**_ Buffy's body!). _That__ one _set off strong feelings of anger in the blonde's chest for the brunette! In fact: Buffy had literally threatened to beat Faith to death (essentially to murder her) if Faith even **tried** to apologize to her for hurting her! Now, however, Buffy wanted to have a little fun with Faith- and having been carried as a baby was fun, she'd give Faith a taste of her own medicine. Buffy grinned at Faith as Faith and she looked at one-another and she planned her next moves in dealing with Faith. It was important for Buffy's little plan for her to behave sweetly towards Faith; in order to keep the brunette off her guard until it was too late to do anything about it.

There was also a degree of dominance in this matter, a kind of "I'll meet your challenge and raise it above your abilities to counter or achieve." kind of thing going on in-between these two young ladies., and as Faith set Buffy gently down on her feet to open the door- Buffy struck! She immediately let Faith open the door and she then used her back to hold the door open while proceeding to pick Faith up just the same way Faith had picked Buffy up, and she physically carried the taller girl up the several flights of stairs. Since the math-class was on at least the third floor, and they were entering from the basement level, Buffy immediately proceeded to carry Faith up the four flights of stairs! When they reached the door to the third floor of the College building where the classes were going to take place, Buffy had to set Faith down, she didn't want to: she liked carrying her, and wanted to surprise the class and teacher! _"Wouldn't he be surprised if and when he sees me carrying her into class?"_ Buffy thought to herself in the pleasure of the physical exertion of carrying this other super-strong young athlete and (in Faith's case) party-gal.

When Buffy set Faith down to avoid hurting her when she opened the door, Faith played the same trick on Buffy! She proceeded to let her open the door, then lifted her up and carried her into the hallway and down it to the classroom and, to Professor Hoffner's surprise, he saw one of his students carrying her classmate into the room. She sight of Faith carrying Buffy into the classroom for the other students, teachers, security-guards, and other workers or members of this College was quite a bizarre one to begin with, and many got a kick out of one young lady physically carrying another of approximate strength and size as herself.

Professor Hoffner got quite a kick out of this, but he said, cracking up "Alright, you can put Miss Summers down now, Miss Lehane." As he saw the weird grins on their faces, Bruce figured they're playing around; and while he did enjoy the idea of them being friends, he didn't want anything to interfere with their education. Willow had made it to class on time, but she was still emotionally distraught over what she had wanted to do to Faith, and how much tears would result if she proceeded with her evil desire to sexually abuse Faith. Willow knew it was deeply wrong to sexually abuse or assault anybody. _"After all, Jesus was a Jew, so I've got the same background as He did in religious matters."_ Willow thought referencing history, still aghast at herself for wanting to do something so evil to someone, anyone.

Tara had met with her 'fellow' and she would relate the events later on in the day, but she was one of the most studious of the pupils in the class- she was, however, still quite upset with her woman that Willow had considered raping Faith! As Willow glanced to her right across the classroom, she could see that Tara was enraged about that event- and it burned her in her conscience that that fight was still going on. Willow so wanted peace between them. Inside her heart, Willow could feel her heart breaking, and she wanted to cry, but she also loved learning, and this environment was both her favorite hunting-ground and literally a Heaven for her. As far as her life went, learning was about as close to Heaven as Willow was likely to come in this life, and in that field, she could campaign for as long as she wanted- it was a wholesome delight, a gentle joy, and she had reason to love it intensely.

As Victoria sat down and did her math-work, her mind wandered into her encounter in the bar with Spike- that's who it was who sent the "Buffylover607" email: William Pratt! _"Of course, he loves her! William Pratt sent me the email to meet with me. And he was alive in World War 1, so of course he's a primary source for historical information on the matter therein- especially England's reasons for being able to raise an army the likes of that they did."_ Victoria couldn't stop thinking about what he had said to her in that meeting in the bar booth- she had walked into that bar, to find him seated down in a booth. He had waved her over, and acted like the stereotypical perfect gentleman with her; even offering to buy her a drink. She had asked for a pineapple-juice, non-alcoholic, just to be sure, for they did serve alcohol here in this establishment she was meeting him in, and she didn't want to be drinking when doing schoolwork- that can lead to expulsion, and she _wanted_ to be in school!

William had related to Victoria everything he remembered, and for the life of her; Tara couldn't figure out why at all! Why he was being so gentle with her too; minding the facts, telling her it the way it was- she loved that about him: his honesty in this matter! They spent a long time talking over the motives to the War to end all Wars, and why people fought in that conflict. The gentleness triggered something pretty close to love in her heart when dealing with him- it wasn't sexual or romantic, but it was a form of camaraderie in her that she took delight in. There was no physical contact- he didn't strike her or anything, but he was respectful of her feelings- even when they disagreed over a lot of things., in fact, most everything involved they had disagreed on. Spike also mentioned the way Drusilla was so honest with her thoughts- despite being a complete nutcase too- and the fact that he loved that about her.

What Spike told Tara was that largely the people of Europe _**wanted**_ war, that's why it occurred. The European people had seemed to have forgotten what war's really all about- the killing, maiming, looting, abuse, injuries, sorrow of families who'll never see their loved ones again alive in this life, and all that painful stuff- not to mention the cold-blooded murders that would turn Tara's stomach if she were to encounter them in any capacity aside from schoolbooks. He referenced the movie from 1984 called Red Dawn, depicting a nightmare vision of World War III or the Cold War gone hot, as it might be called; which shows a Soviet invasion of the United States- a film she had seen with her family before her mom died of natural causes- and her life turned into something that roughly paralleled Cinderella in the classic Fairy-tales. "England didn't have a standing army." was what William told Victoria in their discussion- and hey, she was getting a first-rate primary-source information about World War I in any realistic situation, so she was pretty happy about this. "Most of our soldiers signed up thanks to what our newspapers called "the rape of Belgium", of course it wasn't **actual** rape, or sexual assault, as that would be a disaster for the Imperial German Army to try to conduct on a rapid advance in a military campaign- they'd not have time to do so and get back to their task at hand" Spike continued, before taking a drink of his beer prior to continuing with his first-hand description of why he and others joined up to serve in the Triple Entente, or 'Allies' forces in the Great War. "they called it 'rape' because it devastated Belgium, and, though most of the German operations would be today considered 'anti-partisan ops' they were seen as murdering civilians- there was a lot of anger on the part of the British people towards the Germans for the treatment of the Belgian populous in occupied Belgium" another drink to 'wet the whistle' as the sea-folk would say when working. "In reality," Spike continued, the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman, and later Bulgarian forces were largely professional fellows who were merely signing up to serve King and Country, just like Yours Truly." he said, referring to himself.

"And you, how did you come to volunteer?" Vicky asked William. "I wanted a spot of violence in my life, a bit more, I guess, so I signed up for the most risky and problematic job in the army that I could find- Infantry Assault Service: a kind of 'storm trooper', if you please- make no mistake, as a creature of the night, I wanted violence and bloodshed, far more than most of my colleagues in that conflict… I loved the stuff." he said, then added when he saw her facial expression- shocked and horrified "Of course, the attitudes of a lady can do wonders on a man, such it is with Elizabeth's influence on me" he then leaned in close and whispered into her ear "this is not yet certain, but she may have more power than she realizes- what with causing her nemesis' to fall in love with her." he said, making clear that he didn't think it'd be a good idea to tell Buffy yet that she has this kind of 'stock' in his life.

"I was a little more enthusiastic than most Tommies." Spike said, leaning back a little after telling Victoria that little factoid on this matter. "My commanders were a little spooked, but most of them didn't suspect that their 'storm trooper' was so enthusiastic thanks to being a 'creature of the night'." Spike said, as if telling a fascinating historical anecdote to his friend- and that's how he was starting to see Tara, as a friend. "The Austro-Hungarians fought to avenge the death of their 'Crown Prince', that whole matter resembles the movie Men in Black 1, with the Earth in the shoes of Serbia, the Arquillains as the Austro-Hungarians, and the Bugs as The Black Hand, a terrorist organization run by the Serbian Government; something that the Allies didn't know at the time was that they were really supporting International Terrorism and Assassination., by way of alliance with a nation utilizing Terrorism on a neighboring nation." Spike went on with the impromptu history lesson with Tara. He was literally tutoring her in the geo-politics of those days. "And just like the Arquillian Royal who was killed in Men In Black 1, the Archduke of Austro-Hungary liked Serbia as a nation and didn't want a war with them." Tara spoke up, to which Spike nodded enthusiastically before continuing. "Now, if enough people want a fight, it tends to come true, regardless of if it's the best thing for the people involved or anybody else- the world has that kind of, you might say, magic about it, in that it's mysterious, almost as if the entire world is both conscious and telepathic… and can detect the mass-requests of humans and tends to want to grant them." Spike told Tara in an off-hand way. "Didn't do him much good, though, the Serbian Terrorist who killed him still shot him dead." Spike said, and Tara was reminded that she was looking into the face of a real-life monster.

"I heard about the near-catfight on the College Premises that happened just yesterday, Tara, would you mind elaborating on it to me; just to lighten the mood? It might help provide ideas for the description of what happened in these times we're talking about." Spike asked. "Oh, that" Tara responded, before continuing "Well, Willow and Faith seem to hate one-another with some sort of very passionate intensity, and they were looking for a chance to fight… Elizabeth stopped it then and there, by putting herself into the firing-line and saying that she wasn't moving until they backed down from the near 'boxing match' they almost wound up in." Tara said. Spike's response floored her completely "People who want to fight will usually find a way to do just that- though it might not be in their best interest… kinda wish I was there though, just to see it happen." Spike said, getting a dreamy look in his eyes and a happy and content smile on his face., and slightly cracking up at the thought of Willow and Faith beating the living crud out of eachother- that would have really made his day!

Now Victoria was reminded once again of the kind of 'benevolent monster' she was taking lessons from in this part of world history. He had indeed been there, but the mere thought of him smiling at the thought of her girlfriend getting beaten up or beating up somebody else was too horrible for her to consider- _"What was going through his mind to enjoy the idea of Willow in a catfight with Faith and them beating eachother to a living pulp?!"_ Tara thought, horrified at the idea. Oh, Spike was certainly acting like a gentleman with her, but there was something decidedly UN-Chivalrous about his mannerisms regarding Willow fighting with Faith, and the smile that it triggered on his face- that _really_ creeped her out!

His delight in the prospect of a catfight was downright misogynistic in her eyes, in fact! That scared Victoria- the sheer joy he seemed to feel at the thought of those two women beating eachother up as much as they could.

Tara was so wrapped up in her thoughts of history that she had trouble paying attention to her math class, but the after-class part certainly stood out in this woman's mind: Buffy and Faith asked Professor Bruce Hoffner to adjudicate between them on which one had done more lifting and carrying of the other in the period up to class. _"This'll be __**fun**__!"_ Tara thought to herself as this discussion took place, she had a grin from ear to ear literally on her face as she watched the matter of practical math being applied to this school-game that Elizabeth and Faith had played with one-another. Tara was leaned on her desk in the classroom with her arms folded across her chest as she grinned and watched this matter unfold before herself, her legs were also crossed- and Victoria Maclay struck a picture of physical beauty in that room, but not anything sexual in that beauty. Professor Hoffner went over to the blackboard to diagram the material and take notes on the distance and lifting forces involved, and questioned Buffy and Faith about who carried whom how far, and under what circumstances; and taking notes on the kinetic forces involved in those matters- all the while making certain that if he had to do the problem, they'd comprehend how to do it themselves. Buffy was to his left, and Faith was to his right. Both girls were pointing to the blackboard and mentioning different things on the matter of this engineering problem they'd roped him into working on with them- the purpose was to see which one of them was the stronger- and had greater endurance. But his terms were simple: he wanted good sportsmanship between them! Whichever one won or lost had to be a lady, in fact, both had to do that!

It turned out that while Faith had to cover more distance, Buffy had to lift more, due to the staircase, and carrying Faith up it, so it came out equal. Both young ladies were dissatisfied about equally with the results; so the matter would be settled with an arm-wrestling match! As yet another stalemate developed, Willow whispered conspiratorially to Tara "This is turning out to be more play than learning.", and Tara nodded in agreement. All in all, it turned out that Elizabeth {Buffy} Anne Summers and Faith Lehane were equally matched in summery of skills and abilities.

After class, Buffy told Faith to come by her room in 214 Stephenson Hall to find her for study and a little friendly playtime- Faith was enticed, to say the least! After Faith attended her HDEV FYE class (a class on how to study for College), (or Human Development, First Year Experience, as the acronym represents) she went to Buffy's dorm room to attend her study and play-date with her new friend.

Something else was also watching these young ladies, and biding its time studying their propensities and abilities, an evil spirit called for lack of a better term "the First Evil"- essentially Lucifer… and if there was ever a true villain and monster: this was it! His study approach on them was very akin to the methods the Romulan Commander mentioned in Star Trek Balance of Terror: "First study the enemy, seek weakness." being this being's policy, and while he operated far more like a pirate than the Romulan Military Officer in that episode- who was a potential role-model in his own right- this sadistic spirit had no good traits to try to emulate, only morally neutral traits or extremely evil traits in his personality left!

He watched these girls and guys move about their daily business like a chess-master would watch his enemy's moves, and looked for a pattern in the movements that would allow him to predict the movements of his ultimate adversary: God, and the undoing of His kingdom here on Earth- thereby paving the way for this evil spirit's true rise from the Perdition he had been sentenced to long before humanity began to walk the Earth. _"People aren't an end in and of themselves; they're merely a means to an end- their own end!"_ Satan thought to himself as he watched the movements of these just-above-animals going to and fro in their daily lives; not even minding to think that other minds comprehend the matters of this planet in grander schemes than they could comprehend in their wildest dreams or nightmares!

This extremely wicked spirit would have to bide his time for the surprise attack- just like a crocodile in one of Earth's rivers would wait in ambush for prey to come close for a drink- never suspecting anything lurked below the waves to attack- this factoid the evil spirit found immensely satisfying in his own psychopathic mindset!

Willow and Buffy had already talked over some matters, and it made Willow happy to find out that Buffy was fond of Faith- that Buffy had someone whom she was developing a love for was satisfying to Willow. Buffy headed to her room to await her 'student', for she had asked to tutor Faith in some math- to help the brunette get up to speed, and she also wanted a playmate for her wargame that she had bought recently- Ace of Aces, by Alfred Leonardi, she wanted to try out this wargame, and see her skills.

When Faith showed up, she was in her gym cloths: shorts that were cut-offs about halfway down the thighs, and a sleeveless t-shirt, as well as sneakers. Her hair was loose, but it looked permed- a lot like it had been in class today, in fact. Buffy herself was dressed like she had just been in a workout: exercise top and running shorts, sneakers, a lot like her outfit for training.

Buffy spent about the next hour trying to bring Faith up to speed, and Miss Lehane was an amazingly quick learner, she seemed to love this math class- and caught on quick; then when Buffy had determined that Faith's had enough time to pick up things for today, she put away the schoolbooks on the bed that she'd set out, receiving a bit of a pout from Faith, who was thoroughly enjoying the lesson, and Buffy pulled out a shopping bag from under her bed. Faith, meanwhile, had seated herself down on the bed to watch, and she spotted Buffy picking up a set of books from the bag, about the thickness of a 'choose-your-own-adventure' book apiece, but longer, especially longer than they were tall.

"Who do you want to be, Allies or Central Powers?" Buffy suddenly asked Faith, as she held up the books. Faith's mouth dropped open at the question, and she blinked. Faith was not too familiar with history, but the terms resembled those in a historical conflict, and the books showed pictures of flying machines from about the era of the early 20th Century. "Who'd you want to be?" Buffy asked again- determined to find out from her prospective playmate just what side Faith wanted to pretend to fly for.

**Author's Notes End Chapter 2.):** Willow's remark about Jesus in her thoughts is designed to show her as a Messianic Jewess, understood to be a type of Reform Jew- as Jesus was sort of a reformer and corrector is how I got the idea of that touch to the plot device. Her hatred of Faith may well be a gateway for the First to mess her up, so she's got to close that doorway ASAP. Don't worry, Willow's still a Jew in this one, but she is also studying other things

Next chapter will likely depict a lot of the dealings between Faith and Buffy in the wargame- designed to self-teach Buffy some strategy for her monster-fights, and she'll need to keep her wits about her if she's to survive the fight against the **ultimate** monster: the First Evil: Lucifer!

William Pratt {Spike} in this storyline served in World War 1 in the British Assault Infantry (sort-of equivalent to the Italian Alpini divisions of shock-troopers who were used to take trenches and Mussolini based his black-shirted Fascist troops on between World Wars 1 and 2), and did a spectacular job of it; however his delight at combat scared his superiors a bit witless, with his taste for violence!

Tara taking a class on International Affairs was a salute to my US History 201 Professor in College, who told me that he'd be teaching a class on such a topic, and I've studied that kind of thing since I was eleven, and as I write this chapter: I'm thirty-six… yep, I know a lot of what this material would be- just having entered College myself these days.

This one's longer than I expected, so next chapter will likely be a continuation of this one (possibly a 'part b')

Buffy is sometimes referred to by her nickname of "B", given by Faith.

In the next chapter: Buffy and Faith end up playing a game.


End file.
